Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Recently, Tyler went to go help out in Jack's class at school. While there, he noticed Jack's drawing of his favorite animal.Any guesses as to what it was????Well, whatever you guessed, you were wrong.It's a Wing Wolf."A what!?!""Like, a wolf with wings. From Secrets of Droon," he casually explained.Ahhhhhh.I was able to contain the laughter that tried to explode out of me when they revealed this at the dinner table."But Jack," I choked out, "what's your favorite REAL animal? Like, not from the fiction books you read?"His answer was pretty quick."Vampire bats.""Oh," I responded, "that's really--"He cut me off, explaining further. "Because they turn into vampires by night and then when they see the least bit of light, BAM, they turn back into bats!" He was very excited by this favorite.Neither Tyler nor I could stop from laughing. Fortunately, it was fairly quiet and I was able to get myself under control (at least momentarily) to try to find out his favorite REAL animal. It was becoming important to me to know that he could KINDA separate fact and fiction."Dude, we've talked about that and you know that's something people like to pretend happens, but bats don't really turn into vampires, right? What's your favorite real animal that exists on EARTH and that doesn't turn into a monster?"He pondered this one for a moment, then triumphantly replied, "Humans!"Seriously. Humans?"Ok, and how about other than humans, cuz lots of people kinda think humans are different from animals. What animal that is real, that doesn't change shape, that isn't a human?"Tyler had to interject here, "Sheesh, Mom, putting in all these limitations! What kind of question is that?"Finally, Jack had an answer for me. A real animal."Turtles."Ok, not an animal he's ever considered as his favorite, but hey, it's a REAL animal."Because their shell is like a force field. I also like crabs because their shell is like a force field, too."

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Can you believe it's been 6 weeks since the Spica Cast went on our little Amelia?!?
The time has totally flown. I guess that's what happens when you have 3 other, older hooligans running around causing mischief. :)
She might look serious here, but Mia has been fabulous. I have never met a happier baby. She is generally all sunshine and smiles, unless she's hungry, tired, or really wanting some elusive attention. Oh, here we go! This is what our baby usually looks like!
So, we needed to document how cute our littlest one is, even with a cast! I'll give you a hint. Purple and zebra print. Ta da!
My friend Becca was kind enough to snap these shots of Amelia on a day that didn't have perfect lighting. Amelia was also more than ready for bed. The odds were against us getting anything decent. But she managed it!
In these pictures, Amelia is sporting her favorite look. Girlie-rocker-spica-chic. The edges of the cast can be really sharp, so we lined it with some smashing zebra print duct tape (found at any of your big box retailers or home improvement stores...or even on line!). Plain purple duct tape was a solid foundation for some of the trickier spots. The pink "baboon bum" effect is a one-size, wrap-style cloth diaper cover. I tucked it up in the back as far as my little fingers could reach, tuck in a poise pad or smaller disposable diaper in back, flip her over and tuck in the front diaper and then cover, reaching down the front of the cast to spread it out. I'll do a more tutorial-style post on that later, just in case anyone is searching for Spica tips like I did before this business). You can't really tell in these picts, but the cast only goes above her knee on the right and to her lower-calf on the left side. I continue to be amazed at how much herself she's been with the body cast on. Seriously, if one of us adults had this, we'd be moaning and complaining and generally miserable until it was off and our physical therapy was done. She handles it like a champ! So far, it hasn't been horrific for me, although there have been some challenges. Around 3 weeks in, she had a gargantuan poop-splosion that (of course) went down the long-leg side. To her knee. For two hours, I furiously soaked up poop with cloth diapers, shoving it at far down her leg (that side is also tighter so there's not as much wiggle room) as my fingers could shove. Then I tried various implements to get wipe, cloth diapers, or rags down that side and around the back (don't worry, none of those implements were returned to their original jobs!). I wiped it with a zillion wet wipes, I soaked out more liquid, I wiped. I blow dried it (on cool!) for over half an hour. I soaked up some more junk, then busted out the blow drier again. During this time, I also had Sheridan and Henry begging to go to the library--which had been the plan for the morning--to have a snack, to watch a movie...oh, and Henry was a week or so into potty training, so Sheridan ended up taking him to the potty twice! The whole process took 2 hours and a bunch of tears.
I adjusted my diapering technique and had no more explosions. The increase in solids probably also helped...
Amelia has learned to roll over in the cast, both back-to-front and front-to back! Amazing. She was not crawling before but can maneuver herself around a little. She is one determined little peanut!There you have it! Cutest spica baby ever! Today we had her cast change and got the de-casting date: November 15th!!! Wooo hooo! Stay tuned for more pictures (and learning experiences!). Ok, don't really "stay tuned". You know I'm not going to post anything for at least a week. But check back her before Nov. 15th, I promise, I'll put some more stuff on! Maybe even stuff about other people...